The book is based on a series of diary entries of eighteen-year-old
Akhtar Baloch, who was arrested for staging a hunger strike in Hyderabad
against the brutal crackdown on students and activists protesting
against the then military regime of Yahya Khan (1969–71). It comprises
the author’s experiences during her year-long incarceration at Hyderabad
and Sukkur jails of Pakistan in 1970. Initially locked up in the
Hyderabad Jail, Baloch continued with her hunger strike, which resulted
in her being sentenced to a year’s imprisonment at the Sukkur Jail by
the military courts. Powerful and inspirational, Baloch’s story provides
an unparalleled insight into the fabric of the Pakistani society of
that time as portrayed through the women prisoners’ tales of hardship
and injustice.